Laverne Cox on the ‘interesting’ exchange she had with friend who voted for Trump

Laverne Cox said she cried watching President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week, and that her most important interaction on the solemn evening was with a friend who voted Republican.

The Mobile, Alabama, 52-year-old narrated the podcast Just for the variety Thursday about the moment she knew Trump would win and the surprising nature of her conversation with her friend.

The Emmy-nominated actress told the podcast that she was “just like, ‘I’m out’ when Trump had ‘like 246 voters.’

The transgender actress, who played Sophia Burset in the Netflix hit Orange Is the New Black, said she had not called anyone but had “texted someone earlier in the evening who voted for Trump.”

The Inventing Anna star described her friend as “a cisgender, straight, white man” who showed empathy towards her amid the politically turbulent times.

“It’s very interesting and very complicated,” Cox said, “because this friend of mine told me they were sad. While everyone at work was celebrating Trump’s victory, he was sad for me.

Cox said, “He really cares about me and he loves me, and he was sad for me,” adding that she found the back and forth “interesting.”

Cox spoke candidly about the potential medical issues she and other transgender people will face as Trump and his administration attempt to implement restrictions on essential treatments.

“I’m done with my medical transition, but I have to take estrogen for the rest of my life,” Cox said. ‘If I stop I get hot flashes. It’s really bad. I have to take estrogen just for health’s sake.’

Cox said she “didn’t know if that would be possible anymore” and has already started researching contingency plans.

“There’s a website I’ve already visited,” Cox said. ‘I haven’t bought one yet because I’m talking to my doctor to make sure it’s all a reputable and good product. But yeah, I’m going to hoard a lot of estrogen.’

Cox added that “it’s a little trickier for trans men because testosterone is a controlled substance… but there are resources online.”

Cox told Variety that she and several transgender friends are concerned about the new administration’s anti-trans rhetoric and are considering leaving the country.

“We’re doing research on several cities in Europe and the Caribbean,” said Cox, who even went so far as to compare the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric to the German Empire of the early 20th century.

She explained: ‘There was a thriving gay community in Berlin before the rise of Nazism. They attacked Jewish people. They attacked immigrants, they attacked queer and trans people.

‘I don’t want to have too much fear, but I am scared. As a public figure, with all my privileges, I am afraid, and I am especially afraid because I am a public figure. I feel like I could be targeted. I think they spent almost $100 million on anti-trans ads. It is very worrying.’

Trump will become the 47th US president after defeating Harris in a landslide last Tuesday, receiving 312 electoral college votes to Harris’ 226.

During his campaign, Trump emphasized that he would immediately eliminate Title IX protections that President Joe Biden implemented last April, aimed at protecting transgender students from discrimination in the education system.

Trump told the Philadelphia radio show Kayal and Company on May 10: “We’re going to end it on day one – remember, that was on the president’s orders. That amounted to an executive order. And we are going to change it – on day one it will be changed.”

Trump also used the issue in a prominent election ad, as a narrator said in one commercial: “Kamala is for they/them – President Trump is for you.”

Trump remained outspoken about his stance on transgender issues during his last campaign, when he unveiled another dramatic plan during an all-female Fox News town hall on The Faulkner Focus on October 16.

When asked what he would do “about the transgender issue in women’s sports,” Trump said he plans to “just ban it.”

“It’s such an easy question,” he said, smiling. “Everyone in the room and you know that answer: We’re not going to let it happen.

‘Yesterday they had a volleyball match, did you see that? “When someone is transitioning, we have to be very careful because it could end your political career if you put it a little off-hand but you’ve transitioned from male to female,” the president-elect said.

The former president was apparently referring to Blaire Fleming, a San Jose State University (SJSU) volleyball player who is reportedly transgender.

Fleming, a redshirt senior, has been cited as the reason four schools have forfeited games against SJSU so far this season due to safety concerns.

Last month, Fleming went viral for hitting another player in the face with force.

Trump said of the play: “I saw the blow, I’ve never seen a ball hit that hard, hit the girl on the head.

“Other people, even in volleyball, have been permanently injured. We will absolutely stop doing it. You can’t have it. He is a man who is in the game.”

Fox News host Harris Faulkner then stepped in and pressed Trump further on the subject.

Faulkner asked, “So how do you stop this?” Do you go to the sports competitions? Go to the Olympic council?’

Trump quickly responded, “You just ban it – the president bans it, you just won’t let it happen,” to which the crowd of women erupted in praise.

Meanwhile, his former opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, expressed an opposing view during an interview that same day.

Fox News host Bret Baier asked during his highly anticipated interview whether Harris supports taxpayer-funded sex operations for trans inmates and illegal immigrants.

“Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access,” Harris said in 2019, a statement that the Trump campaign turned into an ad attacking the Democrat during the election cycle.

Baier asked her if she still holds the same beliefs: “Are you still in favor of using taxpayer dollars to help prisoners or detained illegal aliens transition to another gender?”

Harris responded without saying what she personally believes: “I will follow the law, a law that Donald Trump has actually followed.”

“You probably know it by now: It’s a matter of public record that under the Donald Trump administration, these surgeries were available on a medical-need basis to people in the federal prison system,” she added.

The law she was talking about referred to policies put in place under the Trump administration before she and Biden entered the White House.

The policy allows incarcerated transgender people to receive gender-affirming medical care as needed based on an individual’s needs.